a Pebble In A Pond
by GiantsintheSky
Summary: Love isn't a thing that's easy to find,its even harder to find when you're an ex-terrorist bomber and current Akatsuki member. So the question here is will love ever be found or is it just a thing to dream about?
1. Chapter 1

Leaves rustled on their respective tree branches as a strong wind blew through the forest; a young squirrel ran across the dirt path to a tree that he called his home. The birds' watches as three figures walked down the path, the colors of their cloaks confused them. The three figures ignored the activity going around them as they continued on the path; the purpose of their mission running through the mind of one of them. A recruitment mission was what leader had called it, why they were recruiting someone was the question; no one was dead and they were already overpopulated with the initiation of Tobi into the organization. Yet here they were walking down the worn dirt path that leads to a small village that wasn't known for its ninjas rather for its weapon making.

"She better be worth the effort…" One of the figures said, his statement broke the silence that had covered the group since they had left on the mission. He was the taller of the group and the only one to carry his weapon on his back, not that the other two had a large katana or something along those lines to carry with them.

"Leader seems set on her, hm." The shortest of the group stated. He looked at the forest around him noticing small little things on the animals living in it, he noted how the shape of certain birds let lead them to be more aerodynamic then others something he could later apply to his works. The last member of the group stayed quiet as the village gates came into view; they were left unguarded.

"Where do you think she is?" The tallest of the group asked as they walked into the village. They quickly scanned the people walking in front of them none of which fitting the description that Leader-dono had given them back at the base. The shortest zoned in on a woman walking with a small child who happened to be crying at the moment, she squatted down towards him as they reached a dango cart. The little kid nodded his head before he muttered something that made the woman smile.

"What are you looking at Deidara?" The tallest in the group said towards the man now known as Deidara. He followed his gaze when he received no answer from the Rock ninja. He quirked his eyebrow as he stared to watch the woman pay the dango man for a stick of dango which she proceeded to give to the little kid, the kid stopped crying and eagerly took the dango from here and then proceeded to run towards another woman whom he hugged, probably his mom. The woman smiled as she watched the little boy walk away no longer crying but instead smiling while he talked to his mom.

"That's her…"An ice cold voice said at the moment, Deidara turned to look at the owner of the voice and then back to the woman who had spotted them and frowned before she proceeded to walk down one of the busier streets. A smirked formed on the face of the tallest of the group.

"It looks like she won't go down without a fight." Deidara turned to look at the man who had spoken before they started to walk down towards the street the woman had taken. They silently walked through the street as they scanned the hordes of people for the woman; a small park of to the side of the path caught the attention of the taller man of the group.

"Itachi you think she went there?" He asked as he motioned in the direction of the park. The man known as Itachi looked in the direction and nodded. He led the way as the other two followed him, he quickly scanned the area spotting the woman that they were looking for. She was looking down at them from a branch in a tree, she quickly jumped down and walked into the forest and into a small clearing where she proceeded to wait for the three men that were following her.

"Jazz Mitoko…"She frowned at the mention of her last name. She quickly took in their appearances trying to match them with a name. '_Itachi Uchiha… that's the legendary sword Samehada so that must be Kisame Hoshigaki from mist…but who's the blonde?' _ Jazz questioned as she watched them walk into the clearing.

"What do you want?" She questioned as she looked straight at Kisame ; the tallest in the group. Kisame smirked at her earning him a glare from the shadow kunoichi. Itachi stepped forward towards the kunoichi, he watched as her body language changed slightly to a barely noticeable fighting stance.

"We want you to join Akatsuki ." An amused look appeared on the face of the woman.

"Rejection sucks but you'll have to deal with it because I'm not going to join you." Itachi's face stayed stoic as she replied. It seemed that he would have to do what he had done with Deidara. Kisame smirked at the Jazz's words; she would be fun to fight.

"I'll make you a deal though… I'll fight one of you and if you win I'll go with you but if I win you leave me the hell alone." Deidara quirked an eyebrow as the woman smirked, a sense of déjà vu raced through him as he processed what was going on in front of him. Itachi nodded and proceeded to activate his sharingan . Jazz stared down at Itachi's feet knowing very well about the leaf ninjas sharingan and what it would do to her. She took out a kunai and though it at an angle where it would appear like it would hit Itachi, but instead it would only graze him at the most it would clip some of his hair off.

Itachi moved to the left as he dodged the kunai, a chill went through him as he felt something crawl up his leg. Kisame stared as a trees shadow slowly started to creep up Itachi's leg, a smirk appeared on Jazz's face. Jazz continued to send chakra to the shadow she was controlling at the moment all the while she made sure that not to look into Itachi's sharingan eyes.

"….damn.." She muttered just as she felt Itachi kick her in the gut sending her though a few trees. Jazz got up and quickly threw three kunai's while controlling their shadows as soon as they hit the sun light. Itachi jumped back as various senbon needles attacked him from the kunai's shadows, a hint of irritation gleamed in his eyes as he noted that she was more tactical about her moves than Deidara had been.

"Pay backs a bitch." Jazz stated as she appeared from a trees shadow and kicked Itachi in the gut sending him towards a tree; she quickly turned her shadow into a katana and stared to run towards him. She stopped about halfway through once she noticed that something was off. Something wasn't right.

"She's figured it out, un." Deidara stated as he watched Jazz stop halfway through her attack and stare out into a random direction. A frown appeared on his face as she just stood there, sympathy rushed through him for a moment as he realized that he had probably looked like that once upon a time. Kisame smirked as he looked at Itachi and them at Jazz, he knew they had won no matter what she had done or would try to do she'd lose the fight and she'd join them.

Jazz shook her head as she realized that she was caught in a genjutsu, the question was when did she look into his eyes? She quickly started to concentrate her chakra in a single area something she had been told would get you out of a genjutsu. She frowned when she turned around to see that Itachi was still in the same spot he had been in before. A chuckle escaped Jazz's lips confusing the three akatsuki members. What could she possibly be laughing about?

"Guess I lost huh? Well can't say that I'm surprised to say the least. It seemed logical that at some point I'd mess up and look into your eyes but I didn't think of how early it happened…" Itachi deactivated his sharingan as she walked over to them she inwardly smiled as she realized Itachi had done just what she wanted. Itachi quirked an eyebrow as Jazz stopped a few feet in front of him.

"….but you should know Itachi..." A smirk played on the edges of her mouth as she quickly disappeared and reappeared next to Itachi quickly placing a kick to Itachi's side. She smirked as she looked over at the other two Akatsuki members who were stoic; or at least trying to be stoic.

"..you shouldn't let your guard down until your opponent is either dead or you have them pinned down with no way of escape." Jazz quickly threw a kunai as she sank down into a shadow. Itachi frowned as he got up, he looked around and noticed a small quiver in a shadow no to far from him. '_She can use the shadows around her. She'll sink down into them if she needs to…'_ Leader's words played themselves out in his head. So she had chosen to use her shadow? So be it after all he was stronger than her it was only a matter of time until she would give in. Itachi quickly placed a shadow clone of himself in his place while he masked his chakra and hid in the branches of a tree.

Jazz lunged out from the shadow she had been using and proceeded to attack Itachi. She winced as he cut her shoulder while she had tried to land a pinch to his face. She frowned as she missed once again only to be met by a punch to her gut; a sharp object was them placed around her neck causing her to freeze in place. She was unhappily caught in a predicament that she couldn't get out of.

"Crap…" Itachi watched as his clone disappeared leaving only him and Jazz. He could tell that she was irritated that he had caught her and more over that she had let herself get caught. Jazz stared ahead of her as she realized what would lay ahead of her, affiltration with a group of rouge s ranked missing ninjas and the knowing that she could have won the battle had she been a little more careful. Itachi caught Jazz in his arms as he hit a pressure point that would knock her out for a decent amount of time.

"Well she was confident." Kisame said as Itachi walked over to them Jazz in his arms. Kisame smirked as he looked down at the girl in Itachi's arms; innocence decorated her face although she was far from that. She was as much a wanted ninja as they were, there wasn't that much of a difference just the village that they had lived and grew up in.

"That was her downfall, hm." Deidara stated as they started to walk deeper into the forest and eventually they found themselves back on the worn out path that they had been on only a few moments ago. He looked over at the shadow ninja, he noted how long her black hair was and how she had lines coming down from her eyes stopping once they reached halfway down her cheeks only to be intersected by a shorter line towards the bottom.

"How old is she again?" Kisame asked as Itachi handed Jazz over to Kisame. Deidara ignored the question leaving Itachi to be the one that had to answer the question Kisame had made.

"She's nineteen…" A smirk grew on Kisame's face as Itachi answered him. Deidara turned to look at Jazz in Kisame's arms. '_Nineteen,hm?...' _ The thought ran through his head that now someone in the organization would be in his exact age group.

"She's your age Deidara." Kisame stated with a smirk as if he were insinuating that something would happen. Deidara looked up at him giving him an annoyed look. They were Akatsuki there was no room for anything else in the organization besides the missions they all knew that, so why was Kisame looking at him like he expected something to happen between him and the shadow ninja in his arms? Itachi stared ahead as he played the battle he had just had with said shadow ninja a few minutes ago. How could he not have seen her trick? More importantly how could he have let her get close enough to kick him? He had to admit that she had been a formidable opponent up until she let her confidence take over.

"Here Deidara why don't you take her?"Kisame stated as the blonde rock ninja gave him a blank look and simply held out his hands to take Jazz from him. He looked down at the peaceful looking shadow ninja; he wondered why or how she had gotten the lines that came down from her eyes. They couldn't possibly have been birth marks...or could they? It made more sense to him if she had gotten them from a fight she had been in, but wouldn't that mean she'd have to be blind?

"Itachi what do you know about her?" Kisame asked causing Deidara to look at Itachi, after all Itachi had been the one Leader had told the mission details too. Itachi briefly looked at Kisame and Deidara from the corner of his eye before he returned to stare straight ahead again.

"She nineteen, an assassin for hire , she has Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and is rumored to be the only granddaughter to the Shizukage the Shadow villages kage." Itachi stated in a rather bored tone of voice, Kisame nodded and then shook his head.

"So if she's not healthy why does Leader want her, hm?" Deidara asked taking everything that Itachi had stated before. Kisame furrowed his eyebrows as it occurred to him that Deidara was right, why would Leader want someone with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus to join the organization?

"She apparently has spells of it so she'll go apparently go months, weeks, and maybe if she's lucky a year without having any symptoms which means it won't hold her back even if she is having a spell she's known to overcome it." Deidara nodded and looked down at the ninja in his arms. She didn't seem to exhibit anything besides innocence for the moment though she probably wasn't innocent to say the least. Itachi stayed quiet as he decided that he wouldn't reveal any of the other little bits and pieces of her life that Leader had told him, he'd rather let her tell them after all he did have more important things to worry about, not that he would show it. Kisame looked down at the shadow ninja in Deidara's arms and frowned something inwardly told him that she wouldn't be just another member of the organization rather more like something that would affect all of them or maybe just him.

Deidara looked away from the sleeping ninja in his arms, he wondered how she would affect the organization and if she were anything like Tobi. Oh how he hoped she wouldn't be like Tobi just the thought of it made him want to drop her then and there and say that they never found her. He decided to turn his thoughts away from the ninja and instead on the beautiful artwork around him that he would use as inspiration for his art especially his birds. As for Jazz she was asleep but drifted in and out of unconsciousness from time to time and for a small second when she was barely conscious the thought ran through her head of what would her life be like now with Akatsuki? That was a question that would be answered with time but for now she was content with sliding back into unconsciousness.

Okay so Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that includes symptoms such as coughing up blood, fevers, muscle pain, and other symptoms that affect the blood and organs. Jazz exhibits the symptom of coughing up blood and she gets fevers but shows none of the other symptoms.


	2. Chapter 2

The stars shone down on the three Akatsuki ninja as they sat by a fire while Jazz, the ninja that they had been sent to capture, sat tied up to a tree a few feet away. Kisame looked over towards her and quirked an eyebrow it had been nearly four hours since she had woken up yet she hadn't said anything at all to them quite frankly it perplexed him. He was use to people yelling at them claiming that they had cheated and wanted a rematch. Pfft yeah right it wasn't their fault that they set themselves up for failure with overconfidence.

"Excuse me…" Kisame snapped out of his thoughts as he realized that she was talking to him out of all people. He waited for her pleas for a rematch to begin.

"…may I please have some water?" A simple request and the look in her eyes made it clear to him that she had been craving water for some time yet she had decided to hold it until she couldn't stand it, how odd. Kisame nodded and picked up a small canteen that was next to him, he got up and walked over to her. Kisame lowered the canteen to her level and held it as she drank down large gulps of water, just how long had she been holding her thirst.

"Thank you." Kisame nodded and then proceeded to walk away from her. Curiosity over the girl was newly fueled within him, she perplexed him and that excited him. Deidara looked up from the small clay bird that he had been molding when he heard Kisame sit down in the large space between him and Itachi. He noticed that Kisame seemed confused but what would confuse him?

"She odd." Deidara quirked an eyebrow at Kisame's remark.

"Really she seems normal, un." Deidara commented as he went back to molding his clay he was trying out a new design type a squirrel that he could send out early on in a battle. He sighed as he realized that the tail hadn't come out the way that he wanted.

"She was holding in her thirst for a while it seems from how she gulped down the water I gave her." Deidara dismissed Kisame's comment as he finally got the tail right. He smirked to himself as a small noise was heard from the far left near her. 'Shit she's trying to get away.'

"Hey someone's watching you guys." Deidara heard her say, he turned to look. She was frowning as she inconspicuously looked over to the right; he followed her gaze some reason.

"A white rabbit, un? What's that gonna do to us, hm?" Deidara remarked as he looked away from the harmless white rabbit that she had been looking at.

"Its summer rabbit's don't have white fur during the summer. However they do for the winter they use it as a form of camouflage." Deidara froze at what she had said, Kisame already had his sword in his hands while Itachi simply got up from his spot near a fire he had made.

"Stupid bitch." A male voice said as a white cloud covered the rabbit as sound ninja stood in its place. Deidara discretely sent out the squirrel he had made, now was a good a time as ever to do a test run.

"Obviously I'm not stupid if I saw through your poor disguise." Jazz retorted at the remark the sound ninja had made about her. He looked back at her and glared, she in turn smiled innocently at him. She knew that she was a sitting duck if he decided to attack her so until she undid the ropes around her wrists she hoped that one of her three captures would defend her. The ninja lunged towards the blonde one that she had found out was named Deidara whom she instantly realized was the rock ninja who had studied under the Kage of Iwagakure.

"KATS!" Jazz winced slightly as an explosion went off on the tree next to hers, a small ember had landed on her rope now all she could do was hope that it would start a small fire that would both singe her hands and set her free. Jazz watched as Deidara held his own against the sound ninja Kisame and Itachi were doing nothing to help him and she figured it was because they trusted him enough to not get himself killed.

'Yes!' Jazz internally yelled as she realized that the rope had been burned enough that she could get herself free, she instantly freed her hands and stood up though slightly disorientated she felt fine. Kisame got ready to jump into the fight once he decided that Deidara had had enough 'fun' so to speak. Just as he was about to step up to take on the somewhat weakened sound ninja someone else beat him to punch.

"Yo asshole…" Kisame heard Jazz say though he wasn't sure if she was talking to the sound ninja or Deidara, who could be an asshole at time. He decided that she was talking to the sound ninja since that's who she was glaring at. Deidara quirked an eyebrow as he noticed that Jazz was smirking towards the ninja in front of him, he frowned this was his fight not hers.

"Come at me bro, unless you're scared." Deidara stared at her no particular emotion secured itself in her eyes so he couldn't tell if she was just bluffing or whether she was serious or not, he frowned when she looked over at him and quickly brushed him off.

"You asked for it." A light chuckled was heard as the sound ninja ran towards her kunai in hand, Jazz smirked as she ran towards him and landed a kick to his chest. A grunt was heard from the sound ninja as he caught a punch headed for his face, Jazz kicking his feet out from under him at the same moment causing both of them to fall to the ground. She frowned as the sound ninja pinned her hands over her head with one hand while the other hand reached for a kunai from his weapons pouch.

The sound ninja grunted as Jazz kicked him on the side with her legs, blood splattered a kunai lodged itself into Jazz's arm. Deidara stood by watching he doubted that she'd win the fight but hey she had been the one to take the guy on. It wasn't his fault that she wouldn't be able to defeat the enemy, a small movement caught his eye as he looked away a smirk forming as he realized what it was.

"KATS!" Jazz winced as an explosion went off right in front of her where the sound ninja had been. She frowned tilting her head as she realized that he had been enveloped in the flames. Kisame shrugged as Jazz continued to watch the flames that had destroyed her enemy.

"What are you doing?" Itachi asked when he saw Jazz go back to the tree she had been tied up to before she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I'm sorry I just happened to get comfortable at this spot and well I thought that you were going to tie my hands up again." She explained though it was a rational thought it made Itachi curious as to why she had do that willingly any other person would have taken the opportunity to run for it. Nevertheless he simply nodded and went back to his spot on near the fire, his thoughts drifting back to his little brother who had joined Orochimaru less than a month ago.

"She's talking to herself." Kisame stated a few minutes later capturing the attention of both Deidara and Itachi. Deidara looked over towards the tree where Jazz had sat at though no she was in the fetal position and she seemed to be talking to herself. Curiosity got the better of him as he got up and walked over to her.

"Syn….don't go." He quirked an eyebrow as far as he knew none of them were named Syn. A small whimper was heard which confused him even more.

"Syn...Syn where are you?" She practically yelled towards him, Itachi and Kisame were now standing next to him.

"She sleep talks." Itachi stated before walking away he didn't need to hear anything that she would say; he practically knew everything about her including who Syn was. Kisame smirked slightly amused at what he had just found out about her.

"Do ya think she'll answer me if I talk to her?" He asked Deidara who shrugged slightly. He decided to give it a try.

"Where are we?" He asked her, they waited for a few minutes for her answer.

"We're in Iwa remember we're suppose to guard their Kage." Deidara frowned at the mention of the village that had seen him grow up. Kisame smirked he was amused and wondered what else he could get out of her while she was asleep.

"Are you Shadow villages Kage's granddaughter?" Itachi stared ahead of him he wasn't particularly interested in anything that Kisame was asking the shadow ninja so his thoughts once again commanded his total attention.

"…You know the answer to that Syn." A frown settled itself on Kisame's face at the elusive answer that the shadow ninja had given him. Deidara rolled his eyes at Kisame's amusement.

"Ask her something she can't avoid answering directly, hm." Deidara asked Kisame frowned at the blonde ninjas' suggestion nevertheless he decided to take it.

"What was Syn to you?" Kisame asked as he leaned against Samehada, it was a boring question yet it was something she would probably directly answer.

"My everything…" Kisame arched an eyebrow at her answer, so he was her lover? That wouldn't cause a problem to them now would it? Deidara had almost the same thought running through his mind as he turned away and decided that he was tired enough that if he tried to create something it wouldn't turn out the way he wanted it too.

"Itachi you don't think this Syn person'll cause us problem do ya?" Itachi looked away from the fire towards the stars above him.

"No." He stated after all how could someone who had died more than three months ago cause them any problems. Itachi laid down on the grass and started to think of a time that seemed nearly a life time ago when he would look up at the stars with a young Sasuke. Kisame shrugged at Itachi's response and laid down a few feet between Itachi and Jazz he was tired and frankly he didn't feel like trying to figure things out anymore. He looked up towards a tree branch were he spotted Deidara sitting on a tree branch though he was leaning against the trunk of the tree a clear indication that he'd fallen asleep, Kisame shook his head and fell into a deep sleep.


End file.
